Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Is That Really What That Means?

I find the "blatantness" in this ad fairly amusing. On the one hand, this type of ad could turn off individuals that disagree with the exuberant message. On the other hand, however, it's easy to see how this advertisement could be fairly effective. Passive individuals may interpret the sign holistically and think "warm weather = need new clothes!" In addition, the warm feelings elicited from thinking about summer and new clothes might be sufficient to hijack any kind of sensible thinking.

What about warmer weather meaning more opportunities to spend time outside (closer to nature) and connecting with friends and family?

Monday, April 7, 2008

Do It For The Cancer


Billboard near Talbot and Oxford Street, London, Ontario, Canada.

For real? This sounds too good be true! According to Health Canada strictly speaking it's difficult to actually get tanned and stimulate Vitamin D production from tanning beds. Vitamin D production in the skin is stimulated by a specific spectrum of UVB light, but UVB doesn't tan the skin very much (which is why most tanning salons use bulbs that are 95% UVA and 5% UVB).

Regardless, does the tan of these "actual customers" look healthy? Why do they show only their faces? Couldn't they find a male customer who looked more like a prototypical male-tanning customer?

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Wet Kittens



"Choose Widmer Hefeweizen. Because other hefeweizens might have wet kittens in them."

Some people may find this ad amusing. Others, however, maybe actually prefer a hefeweizens WITH a kitten in it. What's more, some people might wonder why this beer company is investing in these kinds of tomfool advertisements instead of decreasing the price of the beer.